Street Fighter

Street Fighter is a Japanese fighting video game franchise developed by Capcom, beginning with Street Fighter in 1987, whose 1991 sequel, Street Fighter II, is widely credited with defining the modern fighting game genre and igniting the arcade fighting game boom of the early 1990s through its combination of selectable characters, each with distinct special moves executed through specific joystick and button combinations, and its emphasis on head to head competitive play. Characters including Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and M. Bison became recognizable figures well beyond the games themselves, and the franchise's design conventions, including the special move input system and the best of three round match structure, became a template followed by nearly every fighting game that came after it, including direct rivals such as Mortal Kombat and Tekken. Street Fighter has produced numerous sequels and spin offs across more than three decades, alongside an animated film, a Hollywood live action film, television series and an extensive esports competitive scene that remains among the most established in the fighting game genre.